Elevator.



NITED STATES PATENT Price.

IIARRIET RUTH TRACY, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

E L EVAT O R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 635,362, dated October 24, 1899. Application filed February 18, 1899. Serial No. 706,018. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, HARRIET RTH TRACY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paris, in lthe Republic of France, have ini vented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators; andv I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,'and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object is'to provide means connected with and operated by an elevator car or carriage whereby the hatchway through which the elevator moves shall 'be closed at each iioor as the elevator moves up and down while in operation, thereby effectively obviating a draft through the hatchway, which would tend to cause a spread of fire should one occur in the building, and whereby also falling of persons or articles through the hatchway will be prevented.

IVith these objects in view the invention consists in the combination, with an elevator-car, of two series of vertically/movable hatches, one series above and the other series below the car, and ropes or cables secured at their opposite ends to the car and connecting` the two series of hatches.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view in side elevation, partly in section, displaying a car or carriage at the limit of its upward movement, the hatches being disposed as they will appear under these circumstances; and Fig. 2 is a similar view, the car or carriage being shown in its lowered position.

y In the drawings, A designates the car or carriage, which is suspended bya suitable hoisting-rope d, as shown, or by other suitable means. The ropes or cables B B, which op erate the hatches C and E, are at their up per ends passed over pulleys b and at their lower ends over pulleys b2, all the ropes or cables being arranged adjacent to an elevator-shaft and adapted to pass up and down freely therethrough. The ends of each of the ropes or cables B B are attached, respectively, to the top and bottom of the elevator car or carriage, so that their movement is regulated thereby.

Arranged above the car or carriage A is the series of hatches C, having openings for the passage of the hoisting-rope a and also provided with openings near their edges for the passage of the ropes or cables B B.

Attached to the successive floors above the center one and at suitable points on opposite sides of the hatchwayare projections d, which are designed to retain the hatches for each floor in the series. As the elevator-car descends, a hatch will thus be deposited at each floor and rmly retained there until the car ascends and carries the series of hatches with it.

Arranged below the car or carriage is the series of hatches E, which are provided near their edges with openings e. The openings in the uppermost hatch are smallest and those in the next lower slightly larger, and so on through the series, the purpose being to allow stops e2 on the ropes or cables, intended to carry up the upper hatches of the lower series, to pass freely through all the hatches not intendedto be engaged. The sizes of the stops e2 increase from the upper part of the rope, in the position of the rope shown in Fig. l, downward, so that a stop intended to carry upward the upper hatch of the lower series will pass freely through all the other hatches. The iirst stop e2 is arranged a distance from the elevator car or carriage corresponding to the distance between the floors of the building, so that as the car is brought to a stop at one iioor a hatch will always be in place at the next lower floor, and the other stops are arranged a distance from the first corresponding to the distance between the floors of the building. Upon the opposite sides of the shaft at a point below the first iioor are projections cl2 to support the under series of hatches while the car is in the lower portion of the shaft.

In the operation of the device it will be seen that as the car moves up and down in either direction a hatch will be deposited at each floor and retained in that position so long as the car remains at rest, so that no matter where the car is left for any considerable time, as through the night, all passage through the hatchway will be shut off and possibility of a draft through the same aiding a lire will be prevented and also danger of persons' or articles falling through the hatchway will be obviated.

ICO

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In an elevator, the combination with an elevator-car, of two series of vertically-movable hatches, one series above and the other series below the car, and ropes or cables, each secured at its opposite ends to the car and passing through the two series of hatches, substantially as described.

2. In an elevator, the combination with an elevator-car, of two series of vertically-Inovable hatches, one series above and the other series below the car, ropes or cables, each secured at its opposite ends tothe car and pass- HARRIET RUTH TRACY.

In presence of HAROLD WADE, HARRY B. BRIDGE. 

